Center for Archaeological Research

The William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research (WMCAR) was established in May of 1988 to provide archaeological consulting and research services and applied educational opportunities in cultural resource management. Since its organization, the Center has provided a full range of cultural resource management services, including archaeology, architectural history, archival research and collection management.

The Center has received hundreds of grants and contracts totaling more than 24 million dollars. Our staff typically includes 8 to 12 full-time professionals along with several part-time employees. Center projects have contributed to numerous research topics in virtually all periods of Virginia archaeology. Prehistoric research has focused, in part, on local human responses to environmental change, especially as influenced by sea level fluctuation in the Chesapeake estuary.